Papal Constitutions

(Latin constituere, to
establish, to decree.)

Papal Constitutions are ordinations
issued by the Roman pontiffs and binding those for whom they are
issued, whether they be for all the faithful or for special
classes or individuals. From the earliest times, the Christians of
the whole world have consulted the popes on all matters pertaining
to faith, morals, and discipline. The earliest instance is the
well-known appeal from Corinth to Pope Clement I, during the
lifetime of St. John the Apostle, in the first century of the
Christian Era. From that time on, requests for decisions on
various ecclesiastical matters were addressed to the Holy See from
all parts of the known world, and the answers that were received
were reverenced as proceeding from the mouth of Christ's chief
Apostle and His vicar on earth. The fact that the decrees of
Church councils, whether general, provincial, or even diocesan,
were anciently as a rule forwarded to the pope for his revision or
confirmation, gave occasion for many papal constitutions during
the early ages. After the time of Constantine the Great, owing to
the greater liberty allowed to the Church, such intercourse with
the Apostolic See became more frequent and more open. St. Jerome,
in the fourth century (Ep. cxxiii), testifies to the number of
responses requested of the sovereign pontiff from both the Eastern
and the Western Church during the time he acted as secretary to
Pope Damasus. That these papal responses soon began to constitute
an important section of canon law, is evident from statements in
the letters of various Roman pontiffs. The decretalia and
constituta of the Apostolic See were recognized as laws or
as interpretations of existing canons binding the particular
Churches to their observance. The fact that cumenical councils
required the papal confirmation before their decrees were valid (a
principle expressly admitted by the early councils themselves)
tended not a little to direct the attention of all Christians to
the fullness of jurisdiction residing in the successor of St.
Peter. Hence the professions of faith sent to the popes by newly
elected bishops and by emperors on their succession to the throne.

Turning to the strictly canonical
aspect of the case, the word constitution is derived from
con (cum) and statuendo, and therefore means
a common statute. It is consequently synonomous in most respects
with law. In fact, a papal constitution is a legal enactment of
the ruler of the Church, just as a civil law is a decree emanating
from a secular prince. Reiffenstuel declares that the difference
of name between ecclesiastical and civil statutes is very proper,
since a secular ruler derives his authority immediately from the
people, and hence it is really the people who make the laws, while
the pope receives his power immediately from God and is himself
the source whence all Church regulations proceed. As a matter of
fact, however, while it is true that ecclesiastical laws are
generally denominated "constitutions", yet they are
occasionally designated as "laws" in canonical
jurisprudence (e. g. Can. Leges Ecclesiæ, 3, Q. 6). It must
not be supposed, however, that even in ecclesiastical usage the
word constitution is restricted to papal ordinances; it is
also employed for conciliar, synodal, and episcopal mandates,
though more rarely in later times. The name canon is
generally, though not exclusively, given to conciliar decrees (see
CANONS, ECCLESIASTICAL). Letters emanating from the pope, though
all designated constitutions, receive more specific names
according to their form and their subject matter. As to their
form, pontifical constitutions may be either Bulls or Briefs. The
former are used for the more important and permanent decrees and
begin: Pius (or name of pope) Episcopus, Servus servorum
Dei; the latter are headed by the name of the ruling pontiff:
Pius PP. X. Pope Leo XIII (29 Dec., 1878) made some changes
in the exterior form of papal Bulls (see BULLS AND BRIEFS). As to
subject-matter, the term constitution, if used in a
restricted sense, denotes some statute which the Vicar of Christ
issues in solemn form either to the whole Christian world or to
part of it, with the intention of permanently binding those to
whom it is addressed. When the papal letters are addressed to the
bishops of the entire Church, they are denominated Encyclicals.
This is the most usual form employed by the popes for treating
questions of doctrine and discipline. When pontifical enactments
take the form of responses they are called decretal epistles. If
they be issued motu proprio (that is without a request
having been made to the Holy See), they are called decreta,
though this name has also a more general significance (see
DECREES). Ordinances issued to individuals concerning matters of
minor or transient importance are called Rescripts (see RESCRIPTS,
PAPAL).

Before issuing constitutions the pope
usually takes counsel with his advisers. These counsellors have
varied in the different stages of church history. During the first
eleven centuries, the Roman presbyterate and the suburbicarian
bishops were formed into councils by the pope whenever he wished
to investigate matters of doctrine or discipline. The synodal
letters, or constitutions, issuing from these assemblies owed
their importance and binding force to the primatial jurisdiction
of the throne of Peter, for these gatherings were not cumenical
councils in any sense of the word. History records a long list of
these Roman councils from the second to the eleventh century. The
papal constitutions issued at the close of their celebration were
as various as the subject-matter of the councils. The paschal
question, the baptism of heretics, the heresies of Sabellius,
Nestorius, Eutyches, and others, the restoration of patriarchs and
bishops to their sees, ordinances concerning the monastic state,
the election of the pope, the right of investiture — all
found treatment and decision in these Roman councils and gave
occasion to important pontifical constitutions. These rulings were
reverenced as law throughout the Universal Church, East and West,
and constitute an important witness to the primacy of the Bishop
of Rome. After the eleventh century, these Roman councils grew
more infrequent and finally ceased altogether. This was owing to
the importance gradually accruing to the cardinals, who succeeded
the Roman presbyterate as the senate of the pope. Consistories of
the cardinal-bishops, -priests, and -deacons were held twice and
then thrice a week in the Apostolic Palace; and to these
consistories the pontiff proposed the questions submitted to the
Holy See before he drew up his constitution deciding them. The
consistory was the ordinary tribunal and audience of the pope for
the transaction of all the business of the Universal Church. (See
CARDINAL) From the sixteenth century to our own time, a third
period in the methods of government and counsel is to be
distinguished. The rise of the Sacred Roman Congregations, with
their separate tribunals, their consultors, and trained officials,
has brought about a change in the preparation of papal
constitutions. It is to these congregations that the pope looks
for aid in preparing the subject-matter of his letters to the
Church. (See ROMAN CONGREGATIONS.)

The binding force of pontifical
constitutions, even without the acceptance of the Church, is
beyond question. The primacy of jurisdiction possessed by the
successor of Peter comes immediately and directly from Christ.
That this includes the power of making obligatory laws is evident.
Moreover, that the popes have the intention of binding the
faithful directly and immediately is plain from the mandatory form
of their constitutions. Bishops, therefore, are not at liberty to
accept or refuse papal enactments because, in their judgment, they
are ill-suited to the times. Still less can the lower clergy or
the civil power (see EXEQUATUR; PLACET) possess any authority to
declare pontifical constitutions invalid or prevent their due
promulgation. The Gallican opinions to the contrary are no longer
tenable after the decrees of the Council of the Vatican (Sess. IV,
ch. iii). If a papal constitution, published in Rome for the whole
Church, were not formally promulgated in a particular region, the
faithful would nevertheless be bound by it, if it concerned faith
or morals. If it referred to matters of discipline only, its
observance would not be urgent, not because of any defect in its
binding force, but solely because in such circumstances the pope
is presumed to have suspended the obligation for the time being.
This leads to the question of the proper promulgation (q. v.) of
papal laws (see LAW). The common teaching now is that promulgation
in Rome makes them obligatory for the whole world. The method
employed is to affix the decrees at the portals of St. Peter's, of
St. John Lateran, of the Apostolic Chancery and in the Piazza de'
Fiori.